I. Causes of Heart Diseases
There are many causes of heart diseases. Most of heart diseases are
caused by high blood pressure contributes to hardening of the arteries.
High levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) build up in the arteries as a
result of uncontrolled diet with high levels of saturated fat and trans
fat. All these add to the formation of atherosclerosis lesions and
eventually arterial blockage or anything that serves to damage the inner
lining of blood vessels and impedes the transportation of oxygen and
nutrition to the heart can be defined as a risk of heart disease.

II Symptoms of Heart diseases

Here are some early indication of heart disease symptoms:

1. Leg cramps during walking
Leg cramps during exercise might be caused by dehydration. It is
important to drink a lot of fluid during exercise. Leg cramps occur when
the muscle suddenly and forcefully contracts. The most common muscles
to contract in this manner are muscles that cross two joints. Leg cramps
during walking might be an indication of heart disease caused by
arteries in your leg being clogged up by cholesterol in result of not
enough oxygen being delivered to the cells in your leg.

2. Chest pain
Chest pain is caused by blood vessels in the heart temporarily being
blocked up. It is also caused by inadequate oxygen supply to the heart
muscle or coronary . The persistence of chest pain would be an early
indication of heart diseases.

3. Shortness of breath
Shortness of breath (dyspnea) is the major symptom of the left
ventricular insufficiency. People with shortness of breath are four
times more likely to die from a heart disease related cause than
individuals without any symptoms.

4. Headaches
People see sparkling zigzag lines or loss of vision before a
migraine attack may be at particular risk of future cardiovascular
problems. Generally headaches do not cause heart diseases but a sudden,
explosive onset of great pain might be.

5. Dizziness
Dizziness can have many causes including low blood count, low iron
in the blood stream and other blood disorders, dehydration, and viral
illnesses. Since there are many different conditions that can produce
these symptoms, anybody experiencing episodes of severe headaches or
dizziness ought to be checked by your doctor.

6. Palpitations
Palpitations is an extremely common symptom of heart disease.
Palpitations are skips in the heart beats and irregular heart beats.

7. Loss of consciousness
It is a common symptom, most people pass out at least once in their
lives. However, sometimes loss of consciousness indicates a dangerous or
even life-threatening condition such as heart disease so when loss of
consciousness occurs it is important to figure out the cause.

There are many more symptoms such as fatigue, memory defects, and changes in skin tone and temperature.

III. Types of Heart Diseases

The
heart is a four chambered, hollow muscle and double acting pump that is
located in the chest between the lungs. Heart diseases caused by high
blood pressure contributes to hardening of the arteries. High levels of
bad cholesterol (LDL) build up in the arteries as a result of
uncontrolled diet with high levels of saturated fat and trans fat. All
these add to the formation of atherosclerosis lesions and eventually
arterial blockage.
There are some major types of heart diseases:

1. Type of heart disease affecting heart chambers

As
we mention in the previous article, the heart is a four chambered
hollow muscle and double acting pump that is located in the chest
between the lungs. Heart diseases caused by high blood pressure
contributes to hardening of the arteries. High levels of bad cholesterol
(LDL) build up in the arteries as a result of uncontrolled diet with
high levels of saturated fat and trans fat. All these add to the
formation of atherosclerosis lesions and eventually arterial blockage.
In this article, we will discuss heart disease affecting the heart chambers.

Heart
failure is caused by the heart not pumping as much blood as it should
and so the body does not get as much blood and oxygen that it needs. The
malfunctioning of the heart chambers are due to damage caused by
narrowed or blocked arteries leading to the muscle of your heart.

There are 4 heart chambers as follow:

* The right atrium
* The left atrium
* The right ventricle
* The left ventricle.

Heart diseases affect the heart chambers include:

A. Congestive heart failure
Heart failure is caused by the heart not pumping as much blood as it
should and so the body does not get as much blood and oxygen that it
needs. The malfunctioning of the heart chambers are due to damage caused
by narrowed or blocked arteries leading to the muscle of your heart.

a) Diastolic dysfunction:
The contraction function is normal but there's impaired relaxation
of the heart, impairing its ability to fill with blood causing the blood
returning to the heart to accumulate in the lungs or veins.

b) Systolic dysfunction:
The relaxing function is normal but there's impaired contraction of
the heart causing the heart to not pump out as much blood that is
returned to it as it normally does as a result of more blood remaining
in the lower chambers of the heart.

B. Pulmonary heart disease
Pulmonary heart disease is caused by an enlarged right ventricle. It
is known as heart disease resulting from a lung disorder where the
blood flowing into the lungs is slowed or blocked causing increased lung
pressure. The right side of the heart has to pump harder to push
against the increased pressure and this can lead to enlargement of the
right ventricle.

2. Heart Disease affecting heart muscles
In the case of heart diseases affecting heart muscles, the heart
muscles are stiff, increasing the amount of pressure required to expand
for blood to flow into the heart or the narrowing of the passage as a
result of obstructing blood flow out of the heart.
Heart diseases affecting heart muscles include:

A. Cardiomyopathy
Heart muscle becomes inflamed and doesn't work as well as it should.
There may be multiple causes such as high blood pressure, heart valve
disease, artery diseases or congenital heart defects.

a) Dilated cardiomyopathy
The heart cavity is enlarged and stretched. Blood flows more slowly
through an enlarged heart, causing formation of blood clots as a result
of clots sticking to the inner lining of the heart, breaking off the
right ventricle into the pulmonary circulation in the lung or being
dislodged and carried into the body's circulation to form emboli .

b) Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
The wall between the two ventricles becomes enlarged, obstructing
the blood flow from the left ventricle. Sometimes the thickened wall
distorts one leaflet of the mitral valve, causing it to leak. The
symptoms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy include shortness of breath,
dizziness, fainting and angina pectoris.

c) Restrictive cardiomyopathy
The ventricles becomes excessively rigid, so it's harder for the
ventricles to fill with blood between heartbeats. The symptoms of
restrictive cardiomyopathy include shortness of breath, swollen hands
and feet.

B. Myocarditis Myocarditis is an inflammation of the
heart muscles or the weaken of the heart muscles. The symptoms of
myocarditis include fever, chest pains, congestive heart failure and
palpitation.

3. Heart disease affecting heart valves

Heart
diseases affecting heart valves occur when the mitral valve in the heart
narrows, causing the heart to work harder to pump blood from the left
atrium into the ventricle.

Here are some types of heart disease affecting heart valves:
a. Mitral Stenosis
Mitral Stenosis is a heart valve disorder that involves a narrowing
or blockage of the opening of the mitral valve causing the volume and
pressure of blood in the left atrium increases.

b. Mitral valves regurgitation
Mitral regurgitation is the heart disease in which your heart's
mitral valve doesn't close tightly causing the blood to be unable to
move through the heart efficiently. Symptoms of mitral valve
regurgitation are fatigue and shortness of breath.

c. Mitral valves prolapse
In mitral valve prolapse, one or both leaflets of the valve are too
large resulting in uneven closure of the valve during each heartbeat.
Symptoms of mitral valves prolapse are palpitation, shortness of breath,
dizzy, fatigue and chest pains.

d. Aortic Stenosis
With aging, protein collagen of the valve leaflets are destroyed and
calcium is deposited on the leaflets causing scarring, thickening, and
stenosis of the valve therefore increasing the wear and tear on the
valve leaflets resulting in the symptoms and heart problems of aortic
stenosis.

e. Aortic regurgitation
Aortic regurgitation is the leaking of the aortic valve of the heart
that causes blood to flow in the reverse direction during ventricular
diastole, from the aorta into the left ventricle. Symptoms of aortic
regurgitation include fatigue or weakness, shortness of breath, chest
pain, palpitation and irregular heart beats.

f. Tricuspid stenosis
Tricuspid stenosis is the narrowing of the orifice of the tricuspid
valve of the heart causing increased resistance to blood flow through
the valve. Symptoms of tricuspid stenosis include fatigue, enlarged
liver, abdominal swelling, neck discomfort and leg and ankle swelling.

g. Tricuspid regurgitation.
Tricuspid regurgitation is the failure of the right ventricular
causing blood to leak back through the tricuspid valve from the right
ventricle into the right atrium of the heart. Symptoms of tricuspid
regurgitation include leg and ankle swelling and swelling in the
abdomen.

4. Heart disease affecting coronary arteries and coronary veins

The
malfunctioning of the heart may be due to damage caused by narrowed or
blocked arteries leading to the muscle of your heart as well as blood
backing up in the veins. Types of heart disease that affect the coronary
arteries and veins include:

A. Angina pectoris
Angina pectoris occurs when the heart muscle doesn't get as much blood oxygen as it needs. Here are 3 types of angina pectoris:
a) Stable angina
Stable angina is chest pain or discomfort that typically occurs with
activity or stress due to oxygen deficiency in the blood muscles and
usually follows a predictable pattern. Symptom of stable angina include
chest pain, tightness, pressure, indigestion feeling and pain in the
upper neck and arm.

b) Unstable angina
Unstable angina is caused by blockage of the blood flow to the
heart. Without blood and the oxygen, part of the heart starts to die.
Symptoms of unstable angina include pain spread down the left shoulder
and arm to the back, jaw, neck, or right arm, discomfort of chest and
chest pressure.

c) Variant angina also known as coronary artery spasm
Caused by the narrowing of the coronary arteries. This is caused by
the contraction of the smooth muscle tissue in the vessel walls.
Symptoms of variant angina include increasing of heart rate, pressure
and chest pain.

B. Heart attacks known as myocardial infarction or MI
Heart attacks caused by plaque rupture with thrombus formation in a
coronary vessel, resulting in an acute reduction of blood supply to a
portion of the myocardium. Symptoms of MI include a squeezing sensation
of the chest, sweating, nausea and vomiting, upper back pain and arm
pain.

C. Heart disease also known as coronary artery disease or coronary heart disease
Caused by arteries hardening and narrowing, cutting off blood flow
to the heart muscle and resulting in heart attack. Symptoms of heart
disease include shortness of breath, chest pains on exertion,
palpitation, dizziness and fainting.

D. Atherosclerosis or hardening of arteries
Arteries are blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood to your
heart and to other parts of your body. Atherosclerosis is caused by
plaques that rupture in result of blood clots that block blood flow or
break off and travel to another part of the body. Atherosclerosis has no
symptom or warning sign.

E. Silent ischemia.
Ischemia is a condition in which the blood flow is restricted to a
part of the body caused by narrowing of heart arteries. Silent ischemia
means people have ischemia without pain. There is also no warning sign
before heart attack.

5. Heart disease affecting heart lining
Rheumatic heart disease results from inflammation of the heart
lining when too much fluid builds up in the lungs leading to pulmonary
congestion. It is due to failure of the heart to remove fluid from the
lung circulation resulting in shortness of breath, coughing up blood,
pale skin and excessive sweating. Heart disease resulting from
inflammation of either the endocardium or pericardium is called heart
disease affecting heart lining.

Endocardium is the inner layer of
the heart. It consists of epithelial tissue and connective tissue.
Pericardium is the fluid filled sac that surrounds the heart and the
proximal ends of the aorta, vena vava and the pulmonary artery.

a. Endocarditis
Endocarditis, which is an inflammation of the endocardium is caused
by bacteria entering the bloodstream and settling on the inside of the
heart, usually on the heart valves that consists of epithelial tissue
and connective tissue. It is the most common heart disease in people who
have a damaged, diseased, or artificial heart valve. Symptoms of
endocarditis include fever, chilling, fatigue, aching joint muscles,
night sweats, shortness of breath, change in temperature and a
persistent cough.

b. Pericardium
Pericarditis is the inflammation of the pericardium. It is caused by
infection of the pericardium which is the thin, tough bag-like membrane
surrounding the heart. The pericardium also prevents the heart from
over expanding when blood volume increases. Symptoms of pericarditis
include chest pain, mild fever, weakness, fatigue, coughing, hiccups,
and muscle aches.

6. Heart disease affecting electrical system
The electrical system within the heart is responsible for ensuring
the heart beats correctly so that blood can be transported to the cells
throughout our body. Any malfunction of the electrical system in the
heart causes a fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat. The electrical system
within the heart is responsible for ensuring that the heart beats
correctly so that blood can be transported throughout our the body. Any
malfunction of the electrical system in the heart malfunction can cause a
fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat.

Types of heart disease that
affect the electrical system are known as arrhythmias. They can cause
the heart to beat too fast, too slow, or irregularly. These types of
heart disease include:

b. Sinus bradycardia
Sinus bradycardia occurs when a decrease of cardiac output results
in regular but unusually slow heart beat less than 60 beats per minute.
Symptoms of sinus bradycardia includes a feeling of weightlessness of
the head, dizziness, low blood pressure, vertigo, and syncope.

c. Atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation is an irregular heart rhythm that starts in the
upper parts (atria) of the heart causing irregular beating between the
atria and the lower parts (ventricles) of the heart. The lower parts may
beat fast and without a regular rhythm. Symptoms of atrial fibrillation
include dizziness, light-headedness, shortness of breath, chest pain
and irregular heart beat.

d. Atrial flutter
Atrial flutter is an abnormal heart rhythm that occurs in the atria
of the heart causing abnormalities and diseases of the heart. Symptoms
of atrial flutter includes shortness of breath, chest pains, anxiety and
palpitation.

e. Supraventricular tachycardia
Supraventricular tachycardia is described as rapid heart rate
originating above the ventricles, or lower chambers of the heart causing
a rapid pulse of 140-250 beats per minute. Symptoms of supraventricular
tachycardia include palpitations, light-headedness, and chest pains.

f. Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia
Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia is described as an
occasional rapid heart rate. Symptoms can come on suddenly and may go
away without treatment. They can last a few minutes or 1-2 days.

g. Ventricular tachycardia
Ventricular tachycardia is described as a fast heart rhythm that
originates in one of the ventricles of the heart . This is a potentially
life-threatening arrhythmia because it may lead to ventricular
fibrillation and/or sudden death. Symptoms of ventricular tachycardia
include light headedness, dizziness, fainting, shortness of breath and
chest pains.

h.Ventricular fibrillation
Ventricular fibrillation is a condition in which the heart's
electrical activity becomes disordered causing the heart's lower
chambers to contract in a rapid, unsynchronized way resulting in little
heart pumps or no blood at all, resulting in death if left untreated
after in 5 minutes.

There are many heart diseases affecting electrical system such as premature arterial contractions, wolf parkinson, etc.

7. Congenital heart disease
There are several heart diseases that people are born with.
Congenital heart diseases are caused by a persistence in the fetal
connection between arterial and venous circulation. Congenital heart
diseases affect any part of the heart such as heart muscle, valves, and
blood vessels. Congenital heart disease refers to a problem with the
heart's structure and function due to abnormal heart development before
birth.Every year over 30,000 babies are born with some type of
congenital heart defect in US alone. Congenital heart disease is
responsible for more deaths in the first year of life than any other
birth defects. Some congenital heart diseases can be treated with
medication alone, while others require one or more surgeries.

The
causes of congenital heart diseases of newborns at birth may be in
result from poorly controlled blood sugar levels in women having
diabetes during pregnancy, some hereditary factors that play a role in
congenital heart disease, excessive intake of alcohol and side affects
of some drugs during pregnancy.

Congenital heart disease is often divided into two types: cyanotic which is caused by a lack of oxygen and non-cyanotic.

A. Cyanotic
Cyanosis is a blue coloration of the skin due to a lack of oxygen
generated in blood vessels near the skin surface. It occurs when the
oxygen level in the arterial blood falls below 85-90%.
The below lists are the most common of cyanotic congenital heart diseases:
a)Tetralogy of fallot
Tetralogy of fallot is a condition of several congenital defects
that occur when the heart does not develop normally. It is the most
common cynaotic heart defect and a common cause of blue baby syndrome.

b)Transportation of the great vessels
Transportation of the great vessels is the most common cyanotic
congenital heart disease. Transposition of the great vessels is a
congenital heart defect in which the 2 major vessels that carry blood
away from the aorta and the pulmonary artery of the heart are switched.
Symptoms of transportation of the great vessels include blueness of the
skin, shortness of breath and poor feeding.

c)Tricuspid atresia
In tricuspid atresia there is no tricuspid valve so no blood can
flow from the right atrium to the right ventricle. Symptoms of tricuspid
atresia include blue tinge to the skin and lips, shortness of breath,
slow growth and poor feeding.

e)Truncus arteriosus
Truncus arteriosus is characterized by a large ventricular septal
defect over which a large, single great vessel arises. Symptoms of
truncus arteriosus include blue coloring of the skin, poor feeding, poor
growth and shortness of breath.

B. Non-cyanotic
Non-cyanotic heart defects are more common because of higher survival rates.
The below lists are the most common of non-cyanotic congenital heart diseases:
a)Ventricular septal defect
Ventricular septal defect is a hole in the wall between the right
and left ventricles of the heart causing right and left ventricles to
work harder, pumping a greater volume of blood than they normally would
in result of failure of the left ventricle. Symptoms of ventricular
septal defect include very fast heartbeats, sweating, poor feeding, poor
weight gain and pallor.

b)Atrial septal defect
Atrial septal defect is a hole in the wall between the two upper
chambers of your heart causing freshly oxygenated blood to flow from the
left upper chamber of the heart into the right upper chamber of the
heart. Symptoms of atrial septal defect include shortness of breath,
fatigue and heart palpitations or skipped beats.

c)Coarctation of aorta
Coarctation of aorta is a narrowing of the aorta between the
upper-body artery branches and the branches to the lower body causing
your heart to pump harder to force blood through the narrow part of your
aorta. Symptoms of coarctation of aorta include pale skin, shortness of
breath and heavy sweating.

There are many more types of
non-cyanotic such as pulmonic stenosis, patent ductus arteriorus, and
atrioventricular cana. These problems may occur alone or together. Most
congenital heart diseases occur as an isolated defect and is not
associated with other diseases.

8. Other Types of Heart Diseases

In this article, we will discuss other types of heart diseases that can affect any part of the heart including the following:

*A cardiac tumor can be either malignant or benign

A) Benign tumors
a. Myxoma
Myxoma is a cardiac benign tumor. It is the most common tumor inside
of cavities of the heart and most of them occur in the left atrium of
the heart obstructing the normal flow of blood within the chambers of
the heart. Symptoms of Myxoma include paroxysmal dyspnea, weight loss,
feverhemoptysis, lightheadedness and sudden death.

b. Rhabdomyomas
Most of rhabdomyomas occur in children or infants and are associated
with tuberous sclerosis. It develops in the myocardium or the
endocardium and accounts for about one out of every five tumors that
originate in the heart causing obstruction of blood flow, valvular
insufficiency, and cardiac arrhythmias. Symptoms of rhabdomyomas include
palpitations, chest pains, shortness of breath, and nausea.

c. Fibromas
Fibromas develop in the myocardium or the endocardium. These tumors
are composed of fibrous or connective tissue and tend to occur on the
valves of the heart and may be related to inflammation. Other than
seeing or feeling the fibroma, there are no usual symptoms.

d. Teratomas of the pericardium
It is often attached to the base of the great vessels, usually
occurring in infants. They are rarer than cysts or lipomas, usually
causes no symptoms.

B) Malignant tumors
Malignant tumors that originated elsewhere in the body and spread to
the heart are more common than ones that originate in the heart.
Malignant heart tumors can originate from any heart tissue. They occur
mostly in children.

a. Angiosarcomas
Angiosarcomas account for about a third of all malignant heart
tumors and usually start on the right side of the heart. The cause of
angiosarcomas is usually unknown and symptoms of angiosarcomas differ
according to the location of the tumour. Often symptoms of the disease
are not apparent until the tumour is well advanced.

b. Fibrosarcomas
Fibrosarcomas occur as a soft-tissue mass or as a primary or secondary bone tumor. The 2 main types of fibrosarcoma of bone are
i) Primary fibrosarcoma is a fibroblastic malignancy that produces variable amounts of collagen
ii) Secondary fibrosarcoma of bone arises from a preexisting lesion
or after radiotherapy to an area of bone or soft tissue. Symptoms of
fibrosarcomas include broken bone, pain, swelling, lump found under skin
or bone, frequent urination and urinary obstruction.

c. Rhabdomyosarcomas
Rhabdomyosarcomas are a cancer made up of cells that normally
develop into skeletal muscles of the body and are also more common in
children. They usually have some type of chromosome abnormality in the
cells of the tumor, which are responsible for the tumor formation.
Symptoms of rhabdomyosarcomas include bleeding from the nose, vagina,
rectum, throat and tingling, numbness, and pain.

*Sudden cardiac death
The victim may or may not have diagnosis of heart diseases, and the
death is totally unexpected. Sudden cardiac death is a result from
abrupt loss of heart function. The cause of sudden cardiac dealth might
be a result of coronary heart disease.

* Hypertensive heart disease
Hypertensive heart disease are caused by high blood pressure that
increases the work load of the heart. Overtime the muscles of the heart
become thick in result of an enlarged left ventricle and decreased blood
pump from the heart. Symptoms of heart failure include shortness of
breath, swelling in the feet, ankles, or abdomen, fatigue, irregular
pulse, nausea and frequent urination at night.

IV. Heart Diseases- Prevention and Treatment

Anything
that serves to damage the inner lining of blood vessels and impedes the
transportation of oxygen and nutrition to the heart can be defined as a
risk of heart disease.
Unhealthy diet is a major cause of heart diseases resulting in the
buildup of cholesterol and fat in the inner wall of arteries that
narrows the arteries, impedes the circulation and eventually causes
heart attacks.

1. Prevention and Treatment of Heart Disease with Diet

To prevent heart diseases, your daily diet should contain:
a) Fiber
Fiber can be soluble or insoluble. As we mentioned in a previous
article, soluble fiber can lower your LDL and raise your HDL cholesterol
while insoluble fiber has no effect on cholesterol but promotes regular
bowel movements. The intake of fatty foods causes the liver to release
bile into the intestines to break down the fat.

b) Reduce intake of saturated fat and trans fat
We know that saturated and trans fat are toxins causing cholesterol
to build up in the arteries damaging the arterial wall and narrows the
arterial passage in result of poor circulation and oxygen transportation
to our body in result of high blood pressure as the heart has to work
harder than normal in order to provide enough nutrition to the body`s
cells. Eventually, the heart will fail and result in heart diseases. It
is recommended that you reduce the intake of animal fat and increase the
intake of cold water fish which is the best sources of omega 3 and 6
fatty acids that can help your cholesterol levels as well as lowering
your blood pressure.

c). Diet high in complex carbohydrates
Vegetables, fruits, some beans and grains contain high amounts of
plant pigments known as flavonoids that provide healthy protection
against heart diseases. Unfortunately study shows that diets high in
complex carbohydrate may increase the release of too much insulin to
respond to carbohydrates in the diet. The type and amount of
carbohydrate foods may need individual monitoring.

d). Drink half of your body weight of water or juices in ounces
If you weigh 160 pounds then you are require to drink 80 ounces of
water or juices to prevent the cells in our body to become dehydrated.
Maintaining normal function of our body's cells is a healthy way to
normalize high blood pressure.

2. Prevention and Treatment of Heart Disease with natural remedies

Beside
foods and herbs, nutritional supplements also play an important role in
preventing heart diseases and stroke. Here are some nutritional
supplements which have proven record in treating heart diseases:

a. L-Arginine
L-Arginine helps to increase the production of nitric oxide in our
body, this has an anti-angina and anti-stress effect upon the arteries
enabling the muscles in the arterial walls to relax. L-Arginine also
helps to prevent the build up of plaque on the arterial walls. L-
Arginne taken either orally or intravenously has been found to prevent
and reverse atherosclerosis, improving the functional status of heart
failure and increasing blood flow in heart disease patients.

b. L- Carnitine
L-Carnitine working with vitamin E will help the body to recover
quickly from fatigue. L-Carnitine helps the body convert fatty acids
into energy, which is used primarily for muscular activities throughout
the body. When working with vitamin E, L-carnitine will help the body to
recover quickly from fatigue and combat heart diseases.

c. Lecithin
Lecithin supplies the body with needed inositol, choline and
phosphatidyl choline that help to maintain healthy arteries. Lecithin
also helps to reduce plaque in the arteries, lower blood pressure and
ameliorate angina pectoris.

d. Niacin
Niacin a B3 vitamin, helps decreases blood levels of cholesterol and
triglycerides which may reduce the risk of atherosclerosis. Niacin can
only be taken under medical supervision because of it's side effects.

f. Taurine
Taurine is an amino acid that acts as an antioxidant helping to
fortify cardiac contraction and enhance the outflow of blood from the
heart. Intake of taurine will reduce the risk of congestive heart
failure and arteriosclerosis.

g. Calcium and potassium
Calcium and potassium deficiency may result in heart palpitation.

h. Magnesium
Magnesium helps to improve blood circulation by permitting the muscles in the arterial wall to rest.

i. Lutein
Lutein is one of the carotenoids, yellow and orange pigments found
in many fruits and vegetables. Lutein supplementation has already been
proven in helping prevent muscular degeneration, the most common cause
of irreversible blindness in the elderly. Study shows that increased
dietary intake of lutein may protect against the development of early
atherosclerosis. It also helps explain why diets rich in fruits and
vegetables are associated with reduced risk of heart diseases.

j. Flax seeds
Flax seeds contain high amounts of alpha-linoenic acid that helps to
lower high blood pressure and the risk of stroke. Eating too much flax
seeds will cause gas to build up if you are not used to it.

k. Ginkgo biloba
Ginkgo biloba helps to to make blood less sticky and prevents blood
clotting and stroke. Unlike aspirin, Ginkgo biloba will not cause upset
stomach and internal bleeding. Also, Ginkgo biloba can improve blood
circulation. Be sure not to take Ginkgo seeds because they are toxic and
can cause seizures.